wyrmfang: Chapter 6: Light Fades, Memory Lingers

" ...And so it is that we fall into disaster, and the Light that is Jzadirune our Home will soon
fade from all save our peoples' memory... but none will be safe until that, too, is extinguished.
Our Legacy will not be an Undoing."

- Last words of the Chief Archivist of Jzadirune

Help has arrived! The cleric and lizard-man have joined us and we have decided to push onward. We examine the rooms beyond the great doors to find another secret room. At first our thoughts of another treasure vault seem to hold sway as we find a row of cupboards filled with bottles. But doubt sets in and I call upon my humble skills to detect magical auras. Alas, our joy, however brief, was in vain. Whether or not they once held power within them, these bottles are all dead and without any energies about them now. Having found no treasure here we move onward.

Breaking down the second barricade we venture into parts of the hall as yet unexplored. We have found a few items of interest as we go forth. In an alcove we find a mechanical device of some sort with ropes and gears and pulleys. I am tempted to manipulate the device, but none of my companions will countenance that now. They all err on the side of caution. Perhaps they are right? In any case I have left it alone for now. In the room at the end of the hall we find a cloaked machine standing in the center of the room. Having not been with the party during their last encounter with such a device I pull the tarp off in my interest to examine it. At first nothing happens, but it soon comes to life and the party is embroiled in combat. Whoops! Though with six of us, we are able to strike it down with better efficiency than their last encounter.

Moving beyond this we continue to find no evidence of the children or the other missing persons. We do however find another workshop. Suprise! Who would have thought that in a gnomish city we would have found a workshop? Or even a few workshops? Or even the dozens, possibly hundreds or THOUSANDS of workshops that must litter this tomb... er, city?--You know, now that I have written it, it dawns on me that sarcasm comes across much less efficiently on paper than it does when spoken. Add that to my notes to self.

Anyhow, in this workshop we find an unfinished construct such as the one we encountered only a few minutes previous. I am eager to examine it's inner workings and hastily move forward. That was my mistake, as from nearby a creature jumped forward and attacked. It is wrapped in a bandages and I am certain our little party has stumbled across a mummy! From the tales I have heard we stand no chance against the creature of darkness! As it turns out, it was not a mummy. Somehow, the bandages themselves are alive and they live as a sort of parasite. They wrap themselves around a helpless victim. It is difficult, nearly impossible, to attack the bandages themselves without harming the victim and our party suffers a number of hurts in trying to deal with it. Apparently, though, we dealt enough damage and the creature fled down a hall. A couple of our party pursued, but it escaped.

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